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Mexican Chocolate Pie

A bittersweet chocolate filling spiced with cinnamon, ground ginger, cayenne, and vanilla. A crumbly, messy graham cracker crust that tastes like home. If you like spicy food, you will love this pie!

I’ve always loved Mexican Hot Chocolate spiced with cinnamon and chiles.When I read about Mexican Chocolate Pie in Allison Kave’s First Prize Pies, I knew I had to try it!

This is my adaptation, based on her amazing recipe.She recommends a homemade gingersnap cookie crust.I made my recipe more simple by using a classic graham cracker crust and adding ground ginger, cinnamon, and a little bit of sugar.The result is a crumbly, delicious mess!

The filling is rich and velvety smooth.If you like dark chocolate, you will love this pie.It’s bittersweet with all kinds of flavor from the cinnamon, ginger, vanilla, and cayenne.The texture is like French Silk Pie but with a spicy kick! I hope you will enjoy this pie as much as my family does!

Some Notes:

Graham Cracker Crust. For a long time, I bought pre-made graham cracker crusts from the baking aisle in the supermarket. Then, I discovered that making your own crust produces better flavor and texture. There’s nothing like the crunch of a homemade graham cracker crust!

The only difficulty is figuring out how many graham crackers you need to make 2 cups. Graham crackers vary in size and can be found in squares or rectangles, depending on where you live. They can also be measured by weight or volume, depending on the manufacturer.

I’ve found that 100 grams of graham crackers usually equals about 1 cup of ground graham crackers. That’s about 10 squares (not rectangles) of graham crackers.

For this recipe, I like to use 2 cups of ground graham crackers which equals about 20 squares. Lots of recipes ask for only 1 1/2 cups of ground graham crackers but having a little extra margin makes the crust easier to work with, if you’re not a natural baker like me.

Spice Level. I love all things spicy. But if you think this will be too spicy for you, cut down the amount of cayenne or don’t include it at all.My 11 and 9 year old can eat this pie, no problem.My 6 year old can eat kimchi but this pie is too spicy for her!

You can also bake this pie one day before serving.Oddly, the heat level is not as intense on the second day.If you serve with whipped cream, that will also cut down the spiciness.

Personally, I love this pie. Then again, I don’t really have a sweet tooth! The spices make the flavor interesting and complex — a real winner when you are looking to serve something just a little bit sweet with coffee and tea.

A bittersweet chocolate filling spiced with cinnamon, ground ginger, cayenne, and vanilla. A crumbly, messy graham cracker crust that tastes like home. If you like spicy food, you will love this pie!

Course:
Dessert

Cuisine:
American

Keyword:
Mexican Chocolate Pie

Servings: 12modest slices or 8 generous ones

Author: The Subversive Table

Ingredients

Graham Cracker Crust

20graham cracker squares (not rectangles)about 2 cups ground

1Tbspsugar

2tspground ginger

1tspcinnamon

1/4tspsalt

1/2cupmelted butter

Filling

8ouncesbittersweet chocolate chipsabout 1 cup

1cupheavy cream

1large egg

1Tbspvanilla

1tspcinnamon

1tspcayenne

1/4tspsalt

Whipped Cream (optional)

1cupheavy cream

1Tbsppowdered sugar

1tspcinnamon

Instructions

For the Crust:

Put all crust ingredients, except the melted butter, in a food processor. Pulse dry ingredients together until contents look like sand. Add the melted butter and pulse until well combined and looks like wet sand.

Dump crust ingredients into a 9-inch cake or pie pan (both work beautifully). Spread out the moistened crumbs into an even layer on the bottom and halfway up the sides of the pan. Keep the crust as uniform as possible, pressing the crumbs into the pan firmly. You can use your hands or the back of a dry measuring cup.

Place chocolate chips into medium bowl. Heat cream until it steams but make sure it does not simmer or boil. Pour heated cream over chocolate chips. Let sit for 1 minute. Whisk until smooth and glossy. Add egg, vanilla, ground ginger, cinnamon, cayenne, and salt. Whisk until well combined.

Pour filling into the pie crust. Bake for 25-30 minutes, until the center wiggles just a little bit. Remove from oven and cool completely, about 2 hours.